Analysts break down holiday data

Tailoring customers' retail experience to their shopping habits is one of the key uses of business intelligence in retail. Researchers such as those from Smart Data Collective are delving into National Retail Federation data gathered around Valentine's Day. The breakdown of consumer trends demonstrates the insights tech-savvy retailers are capturing.

The data from this year's pre-Valentine's Day research suggested that sales would be up, with an increase of as much as 8.5 percent over the same holiday in 2011. This data could be actionable to retailers with business intelligence systems to give insights into how deep to discount, how much supply and where to advertise.

"Anticipating high foot traffic in the coming weeks, retailers have replenished their inventories and will entice eager shoppers with great deals on everything from special menu items at restaurants to clothing to flowers and, of course, chocolates," said NRF president Matthew Shay.

Predicting patterns in customer behavior and basing business decisions on it is one of retail's prevailing trends, according to the New York Times Magazine. In the source's recent cover story, it described the rush to improve business intelligence in retail as extremely competitive.